Top Celebrities Net Worth: How Much They Make or are Worth?

Reality TV and all forms of media coverage on the lives of celebrities often provide us with a peek inside the lives of the rich and the powerful (along with celebrities net worth). The type of curious attraction which these lavish displays cast upon the viewer is strange but perfectly normal if you think about it. Whenever we get a glimpse of how rich the rich truly are, we feel more or less amazed, envious, outraged or proud (depending on how we feel about this celebrity in the first place, probably). In order to slightly change our usual topic from the average salaries of the majority towards the shockingly high net worth of celebrities (or at least some of them), we decided to put together this top.

What Does ‘Celebrities Net Worth’ Mean?

Source: Money Crashers

First of all, we need to detail what we mean by the net worth of celebrities, and only then we will proceed with the actual top of rich and famous people. In all kinds of magazines dealing with popular culture (or celebrity gossip) issues, or reality TV shows featuring the lives of various celebrities, you may very often hear the term net worth, but it’s never thoroughly explained. What does the net worth of a celebrity mean? Does it mean that that’s how much money they have? Well no: the net worth is not equivalent with the cash or liquidities a person owns.

Source: Tools for Money

According to its official definition in accounting terms, the net worth is the total amounted value of all assets and possessions, minus all liabilities and debt. This means that in order to calculate the net worth of someone, we would have to assess how high is the value of everything they own, and then extract from it any risks, liabilities, debts and so on. Furthermore, even if you do see a high value on the assets part, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the person actually has access to that amount of money. It would only value as much as the figure we calculated if they were to sell everything they own this instant. If instead they keep it and just continue gaining revenue from these possessions, it’s much more likely that the coffers of their bank account aren’t actually nowhere near that high (considering also the expenses which come with a lavish lifestyle). But anyway, there are still plenty of reasons to be amazed at the celebrities net worth numbers you will see around.

Top 15 Celebrities Net Worth

Without further ado, these are the latest 2015 end-of-year values for the fortunes of famous people; the top for the net worth of celebrities, from the 15th position up to the very first. We will also give you some extra data about each entry on our list, so you can get a better sense of where a particular celebrity got their fortune, in case you’re not familiar with them and would like to find out more.

15. Madonna

Net worth: $800 million.

How she made it: We really hope Madonna needs no introduction, since she’s possibly the most influential pop artist of all time. With over 250 million records sold worldwide and hundreds of immensely successful concerts, Madonna Louise Ciccone (her actual birth name) started out as a model and became an actress and singer only later on. It was the singing that rose her to the heights of fame she enjoys today.

What’s next: Since 2013, Madonna has been getting more involved in philanthropy (especially in Malawi) and with a free art and free speech project, named the secretprojectrevolution, meant to enlist the help of many contributing artists against the censorship of the copyright industry.

14. Jim Davis

Net worth: $800 million.

How he made it: Jim Davis is one of the most famous American cartoonists of all time, and he is especially known for his work on Garfield.

What’s next: Today, this huge cartoon legend is among the chief influencers of new cartoonist generations, and he is also involved in a foundation for children’s literacy, which he founded (the Professor Garfield Foundation).

13. Jerry Seinfeld

Net worth: $800 million.

How he made it: The Jerry Seinfeld net worth mostly came from his revenues from the hugely popular TV comedy show bearing his name (Seinfeld). The same TV show which launched other actors into stardom and fame (for example, Julia Louis-Dreyfus net worth is $200 million in her own right) is fondly remembered today by the 90s kids as one of the greatest cultural influences of their generation.

What’s next: Since his semi-fictional show ended, Jerry Seinfeld returned to comedy and stand-up stints rather than acting, and has been seen by the large public especially at Academy Awards ceremonies, which he often presents.

12. Dr Dre

Net worth: $810 million.

How he made it: Dr Dre is a hip hop legend and hip hop music producer, who helped a lot of promising hip hop talents achieve their potential after he was already a classic in the industry.

11. Herb Alpert

Net worth: $850 million.

How he made it: Most known for his work with TJB (Tijuana Brass), Herb Alpert is an American musician who reived multiple awards for his albums. He is also recognised for creating abstract expressionist paintings, as well as sculptures, and it would be hard to label him strictly as a musician.

What’s next: Also, Herb Alpert and his wife are very prominent philanthropists, so those are the kind of projects that most occupy his time at the moment.

10. David Copperfield

Net worth: $850 million.

How he made it: Everyone has heard of David Copperfield (the celebrity, not the literary character of the same name). He is an American magician and made his impressive fortune from his magic shows.

What’s next: At the time, David Copperfield is managing his chain of eleven islands in the Bahamas, and only takes brief breaks from this in order to sustain an occasional TV performance as an illusionist.

9. Jacqueline Gold

Net worth: $860 million.

How she made it: She is best known for helping manage the Gold Group International Companies (founded by her father), but is in many ways a self-made businesswoman.

What’s next: Besides managing her business interests, Gold is also in the public’s eye with her work as columnist for several popular magazines.

8. J K Rowling

Net worth: $1 billion.

How she made it: Everyone in the world has probably heard of Harry Potter, the young fictional wizard created by this brilliant writer and popularized through the movies which tell the epic tale of his adventures.

What’s next: J K Rowling is now working on some new fiction books (unrelated to the Harry Potter universe), and also continues being involved with the Pottermore portal.

7. Slavica Ecclestone

Net worth: $1.2 billion

How she made it: Initially, Slavica achieved fame and fortune through modelling, and later became the wife of Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone.

What’s next: Now divorced from her husband, the former British-Croatian model manages her business interests and is also a patron of the British-Croatian society in London. She has 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren.

6. Paul McCartney

Net worth: $1.2 billion

How he made it: He initially rose to fame due to his work with The Beatles, and has been since recognized as an independent musician, composer and music producer.

What’s next: Currently, Sir Paul McCartney is very involved in various international charities, striving to improve the world on matters such as animal rights, land mines, poetry, vegetarianism, seal hunting and music education.

5. Jami Gertz

Net worth: $2 billion.

How she made it: Jami is an actress most known for her roles in Crossroads, Quicksilver, Sixteen Candles, the TV shows Square Pegs, Still Standing or The Neighbours.

What’s next: As of 2012, her most important ongoing project is the work on The Neighbours, where she portrays the mother of a family which moves into an area inhabited by members of extra-terrestrial species.

4. Oprah Winfrey

Net worth: $3.2 billion.

How she made it: Known for putting emotion into reality TV, Oprah is known by everyone and even has colloquial phrases named after her (someone just had an Oprah moment).

What’s next: While still working towards various media projects (too many to count), Oprah is also currently involved in philanthropy and politics (as an Obama supporter).

3. Steven Spielberg

Net worth: $3.5 billion.

How he made it: This movie giant is to thank for when we think about our favourite childhood movies and beyond. A.I. (Artificial Intelligence), E.T., Jurassic Park are only some of his popular creations.

What’s next: There are at least 3 upcoming films we will soon see from Steven Spielberg: The Big Friendly Giant (after the popular Roald Dahl story), Ready Player One and Robocalypse.

2. Dina Merril

Net worth: $5 billlion.

How she made it: She is an actress, socialite and philanthropist, but most of her many came due to family inheritance. She is most known for being Grace Kelly’s replacement in the late ’50 Hollywood, and has received one Academy Award for her entire acting career.

What’s next: Today, Dina Merril is mostly involved in various philanthropy projects across the globe.

Source: PixUnlimited

1. George Lucas

Net worth: $5.1 billion

How he made it: George Lucas has produced a generous range of popular films (quite a few of them through his own company, Lucasfilm). He is the creator of the Star Wars movie franchise, as well as the Indiana Jones series (co-produced with Steven Spielberg).

What’s next: Starting with 2012, George Lucas has announced his semi-retirement, at least from making block-buster movies. He now focuses on small hobby movie projects and on his extensive list of philanthropy projects. In 2015, he also produced Strange Magic, his first musical.

Bonus Celebrities:

Even though they’re not technically a part of the top 15 celebrities net worth, we decided to mention the fortunes of a few other celebs, based on their popularity only (and people’s curiosities towards their finances).

Harrison Ford Net Worth: The popular actor, known for a huge amount of successful movies, but especially for his roles as Indiana Jones and as Han Solo, has an estimated net worth of $210 million.

Miranda Cosgrove Net Worth: This ex-teen prodigy became famous for her role in School of Rock, and is today involved mostly in modelling and her music career. She has a net worth of $7 million.

John Legend Net Worth: He is a hugely popular musician and his net worth is of $20 million. His most popular song, internationally, is the recently released ‘All of Me’, and he has also received an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2015.